Previews

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude

When you start talking to one of the many available girls, the game shifts focus to a collection of mini-games. The conversation game gives you control of a solitary sperm swimming across the bottom of the screen. The object of the mini-game is to hit all of the green objects and avoid the red ones. Every time you hit one of these points, Larry will say something new in his attempt to impress the girl. It wasn't very hard to hit all of the green points, although your Uncle Larry tells you that you don't always want to say the nicest thing, since a lot of women like guys who are a little bad. After chatting up Sally Mae for a while, she decided that she needed a drink, which led to the next mini-game. In your quest to mix the perfect drink, you need to hit the button that is flashed on the screen within a second, or risk spilling it and losing your chance for love.

Revenge of the nerd!

This was followed by a dancing game, in which Sally Mae yells out directional or button commands that you have to do when the time is right. This game was very reminiscent of the setup in Dance Dance Revolution, where you have to hit the correct button when the icon moves inside of a circle. After all of this, Sally Mae is ready to go back to her room, but Larry is able to talk her into a game of quarters. Basically, you just need to pull back on the left analog stick to wind up, then push forward to throw. The first one to get drunk loses. Of course, when Larry wins, Sally Mae comes back to his room. Nuttiness ensues, and poor Larry is left alone with his pants around his ankles.

The other level we were able to see takes place in the college's quad, where Larry interacts with a collection of collegiate stereotypes. In one instance, we talked to a militant female protestor, who asked us to distribute flyers for a rally. Time for another mini-game! If you were a fan of the old arcade game Tapper, in which a bartender threw beers down long bars while his patrons came toward him, you'll enjoy this game, since it's basically the same thing.

Now THIS is a game!

While I was only able to play these few levels, I feel like I got a good taste of what Magna Cum Laude is all about. The game is not very challenging, since all of the mini-games are relatively easy. Of course, none of the other Leisure Suit Larry's were particularly challenging, either. The graphics are amusing and cartoony, but they really aren't anything to write home about. The biggest draw for players will be the wicked, pull-no-punches sense of humor permeating the game. In the two levels I played, there were a lot of jokes about sex, drugs, drinking, bestiality, homosexuality, religion, and the absurdity of political correctness. In fact, if you consider yourself politically correct, you should probably avoid this game at all costs.

All told, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is shaping up to be an entertaining little game filled with raunchy humor and some fun mini-games. It still remains to be seen how much content will actually make it into the game, since it's full of adult situations. While it isn't groundbreaking, it's bound to appeal to teenagers and dirty old men alike.